Neckarsulm, 5 June 2014 – Dr Matthias Metz was elected to the Bechtle AG Supervisory Board and subsequently approved as its chairman at today’s annual general meeting. Until the end of May of this year, Dr Metz, 62, held the position of CEO at the Bausparkasse Schwäbisch Hall AG. He was with the bank since 1998 and a member of its executive board since 1999 before being appointed CEO in 2006. As the new chairman of the Bechtle supervisory board, he will be succeeding co-founder Gerhard Schick, who has been acting as the interim chairman since December 2013.

The Bechtle AG supervisory board nominated Dr Matthias Metz as its newest member during the company’s annual general meeting at the Heilbronn congress centre, in a move previously announced in March. The approximately 500 voters approved his nomination with an overwhelming majority of 99.85 per cent of the vote. The recently retired head of Germany’s largest housing savings bank was then unanimously voted to the position of chairman in the supervisory board’s constituent assembly. He succeeds Gerhard Schick, who temporarily returned as chairman at the end of 2013 after Klaus Winkler stepped down from the position for personal reasons. The decision to nominate and elect Dr Metz as the new chairman of the supervisory board had already been previously announced. Mr Schick will continue to remain closely affiliated with Bechtle as the honorary chairman of the supervisory board, although he will no longer participate in its operational activities. The Bechtle co-founder strongly emphasised his support of Dr Metz at the AGM, stating, “It was important to us to find someone with the same down-to-earth integrity as Bechtle itself. Someone who is able to dedicate the amount of time required for this demanding job—to not only supervise the executive board, but also to act as its advisor.”

Voters also approved the 10 per cent dividend increase proposed by Bechtle AG’s executive and supervisory boards, bringing it to €1.10 per share. This is the eighth time Bechtle has raised its regular dividend, which will be paid out starting 6 June 2014.